Met Office hosts UK NASA Space Apps Challenge

This weekend the Met Office is to host the European arm of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge which will see teams compete to "build, create, and invent new solutions to challenges of global importance."

Weather boffins the Met have a number of apps from staff members including Growers Nation by Radar Products scientist Selena Georgiou. Grower’s Nation is an app to determine what produce to grow and when given the soil type and current seasonal conditions

"This app aims to get more people around the world involved and enthusiastic about growing produce sustainably. This would be done by using the available space in their gardens, school or university grounds or work places that are not currently being used to their potential," the Met said of the Growers Nation app.

Another is from the Met's Weather Impact Research Scientist Jo Robbins called #HazardMap which provides real time hazard mapping by scraping social media sites.

The Met is also using the event to promote the recently launched DataPoint web service which provides access to UK weather data and observations.